TALKBACK #1.5: Godzilla King of the Monsters!

[Silver Kamen]

[lhb412]

Just re-watched this - been thinking of watching the US versions of the entire Showa series.

Again, the picture quality on Criterion's Blu-Ray is astounding. I see all sorts of visual details I doubt would have read had they not dug up this great print of the film.

I'm amazed the film works at all. It's extraordinarily clever, the way they put it together, and while astute viewers can see through the charade the fact is that this patchwork movie works, narratively speaking. The flashback sequences, the way they have a reasons for Burr to be in on the action and to observe the real main characters. The real masterstroke is having Godzilla topple the building on top of him. That's a great moment, and a great direct interaction between a human character and Godzilla, eclipsed only by the ending with Serizawa and Ogata's dive. Burr himself is a big reason for this being pulled off, because he takes his performance completely seriously and adds a great deal of gravitas that one needs when making a film of such apocalyptic scope. However, the extras in the English production are uniformly pretty bad.

[Hybrid Gojira]

I watched this with my wife a few months ago. It was her first experience with Godzilla...she really liked it. The destruction here is monumental and this film really captures just how bleak it would have been facing Godzilla. The scenes showcasing a leveled city followed by the choir are really haunting.

Side note - my appreciation for the Showa films really grows as I get older. The Heisei series post-Biollante have not aged well for me.

[Russzilla]

[kiryugoji04]

[jellydonut25]

Ha! I love the way that scene is edited, and it looks like Raymond Burr is irritated by the way "phenomenon" is pronounced.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[lhb412]

Come on Legendary, we've been waiting 60 years for Godzilla to fight this Bombnazarus thing. Don't let us down.

[Russzilla]

Ok. Are these 3 topless elderly women in this shot on Odo Island?

[kiryugoji04]

Yup.

[Russzilla]

Hard to believe I never noticed that after all these years. Yech. Almost kinda surprised Honda had that in there.

[kiryugoji04]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Russzilla]

Oh yeah, I get all that. Just wish Honda would've used some younger women with a couple of, *ahem,* better things to look at.

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

[Russzilla]

[jellydonut25]

So, last night was probably the first time I really noticed how patchwork this version of the movie REALLY is, but at the same time, I can't help but still enjoy it a good deal.

It surprisingly works, and a big part of that is Burr. He's convincing and at times actually does look well-integrated with the action. It is unfortunate that probably the biggest tipoff that he's not interacting with this cast comes in the first few minutes when he's "talking with Emiko". His other character interactions are cleverly edited, but this one is just too jarring.

But it is amazing how just a few differences can have a dramatic impact on the tone of the film...putting the aftermath of the destruction at the beginning of the film sort of takes away from its emotional gut-punch and combined with the brisker pace, makes the movie feel a bit more fun. It's a movie that sort of revels in Godzilla's rampage rather than condemning and bemoaning it.

[extremedalek]

[jellydonut25]

It's just different. It works well enough on its own. Perhaps it misses the point, but I wonder if the point would have resonated with American audiences in 1956...

[DannyBeane]

I always liked the opening destruction in KOTM. The movie is taken as an interview with a survivor, Steve Martin. The story starts with where he first gets picked up in the rubble of Tokyo and then he relays what happened with his side of the story. It makes it feel more like a documentary/News article. Whenever bad events happen (like Pearl Harbor or 9/11) People see the photos and footage of the destruction first, then the details, stories and events come out. The opening of KOTM just works for me and almost feels like the start of a twilight zone episode.

[lhb412]

This is the film that made Godzilla accessible to the entire English speaking world and beyond. While it may have squashed some of the original's subtlety the end result was the first (big) step in making Godzilla popular enough worldwide to make it the long series it became.

[mr.negativity]

[lhb412]

King of the Monsters just celebrated its 60th anniversary. It's effectively the third Godzilla movie after the original and Raids Again, and without the worldwide popularity of this version it's possible we would have no Godzilla series to speak of.

[jellydonut25]

Was struck just HOW different the movie feels this time in terms of tone and approach. It really is more of a 50s B-movie. That's not necessarily even a BAD thing (to me). It actually in some ways is MORE of a Godzilla film than the odd outlier that is Gojira.

I also was struck by just how fast this movie jumps to the "It was a giant dinosaur" conclusion and what little evidence is used to support that claim. Gojira makes it seem a little more scientific in that way...justifying things and showing evidence, whereas G,KOTM! just has Raymond Burr say "Dr. Yamane was a paleontologist brought on to investigate" almost from the beginning. Like...a few ships sink and they bring on a dinosaur doctor...vs the Gojira thing where it's a reporter at first and it isn't until evidence starts to mount that Yamane comes in, and even then, he's a zoologist, not a paleontologist.